I think it's people usually don't get that these are often just random and not always tied to an event, but vice-versa. Certain situations and interactions can lead up to or trigger attacks, but when it's a real disorder with the fight or flight mechanism, there's often no rational meaning to the sense of panic.

In my case my attacks turned out to be related to a disorder of the autonomic nervous system, which (among lots of other things) results in my response system overreacting to stimuli. It took me a long time to get diagnosed and I've learned to cope by rationalizing my panicky feelings as nothing more than flawed biology. I know that there's nothing really wrong, and I can calm myself down, telling myself it's just my screwed up vagus nerve, before an attack becomes full-blown. Thanks to that I was eventually able to taper off taking Xanax regularly.

But while going through that process I had days where I couldn't even work, and even had a boss drive me to an urgent care place once in a full-blown attack. The work at the time was definitely stressful, but I think the panic attacks exacerbated the work more than the other way around.